Thursday, January 14, 2010

OH MY , if you gave up sweets for your New Years resolution, stop reading NOW! A very dear friend of mine has passed along a simply delicious recipe to me that I just had to try. I have had the recipe for almost a year now and until her most recent post on Facebook, I had forgotten about it. Laura is a wonderful cook and we always joke that she can make us dinner (a fabulous one for that fact!) and I will make the dessert. When I saw the photo of this cake that she had created, I almost passed out. WOW, that cake looked like it was from a posh West Bloomfield Bakery, not from Laura’s country kitchen! I immediately had to email her to compliment her on the beautiful cake and to ask how hard the cake was to make. I got all the answers and just had to wait for a special occasion to make the cake….

My Chocolate Cake (Couldn’t be to creative since I had to transport!)

So, this week marked the 30th birthday of my friend, Saniya. I thought what a perfect time to try out that cake that Laura has mastered. I was a little worried about it since I waited until after I put the kids to bed to make this creation. But I got out the mixer, fired up the oven and got busy. The husband had no idea what the heck I was doing, so I had to fill him in on my madness.

About an hour later, I had 3 layers of cake that were ready to be assembled. The only problem was that I didn’t have all the ingredients for the Ganache, so I had to wait until the next morning to put the cake together. After getting my heavy whipping cream, I made the Ganache and assembled the cake. Then I was off to meet up with my friends for Birthday Lunch.

The cake was really good, I mean GREAT! I cannot believe that I made something so great in such a short amount of time! Saniya liked the cake so much that she ate 2 slices at lunch. I will take that as the best compliment anyone could give! With that being said, I present you with the recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Triple Torte with Chocolate Ganache.

2. Place the cake mix, raspberries and their juice, sour cream, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side, or if your oven is large enough, separate on two different racks.

3. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 25 to 28 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool 30 minutes or more.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Ganache. Place the cream in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring. Meanwhile, place the chopped chocolate in a large stainless-steel mixing bowl. Remove the cream from the heat, and pour it over the chocolate. Stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is melted, then add raspberry and almond extracts, if desired, after all the chocolate has melted.

To use this ganache as a glaze, let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before spooning it over a cooled cake or dip tops of cupcakes into.

To use the ganache as a frosting, let it stand for 30 minutes at room temperature, or chill it for 10 minutes, until it has thickened enough to spread with a metal spatula.

5. Place one cake layer, right side up, on a serving platter. Spread the top with ganache frosting. Place the second layer, right side up, on top of the first layer. Spread the top with ganache. Place the third layer, right side up, on top of the second layer and frost the top and sides of the cake. Work with clean, smooth strokes. Decorate the top attractively with the fresh raspberries, if desired.

6. Place this cake, uncovered or in a cake saver, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. Then cover the cake with waxed paper, or place it in a cake saver or under a glass dome, and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze it in a cake saver for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

This is a poor little piece that I brought home and snapped a photo of it before the “Hubby” gobbled it up :) This is a fabulous recipe to try to Valentine’s Day!!! Send me a photo of your creation!

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Hello and welcome to my baking/cooking blog. I decided to create this blog with the intention that it would give me motivation to bake and cook more often. My passion is the baking, so I have joined a baking club that has a baking challenge every month. I will be using this blog to post my results and to either poke fun at myself or maybe even pat myself on the back:) Please send me any great recipes that you think that our family cannot live without and check in on this blog as I dust off my recipe books. Happy Baking!